Boats and Coolies (Primary Title)
Fourth Indian Set (Set Title)
Ernest Stephen Lumsden, English, 1883–1948 (Artist)
Ernest Stephen Lumsden, English, 1883–1948 (Printer)
Nearly all of Lumsden’s Benares plates are views either along the riverbank or back toward the city’s high embankments. This delicately drawn image, unusually, looks straight down the steep ghats and across the water. A cluster of boats is anchored on the shore; coolies (laborers) bring loads of sand, piled in shallow bowls on their heads, across gangplanks and up the slope. The varied heights of the sailboats’ masts create a rhythmical movement against the wide, utterly unarticulated expanse of river. Just a few light lines define the far shore, where another group of boats, barely discernible, likely gather the next load of sand to be ferried across the river.
ed. 63
Signed by the artist, 'Lumsden imp' and '58 . 63' in black ink along lower plate line.
"Boats & Coolies" inscribed in graphite at right margin. "A48480" inscribed in graphite along lower right edge of sheet, and 'S28252' [crossed out] also inscribed in graphite at lower right edge of sheet, both possible Colnaghi stock numbers.
Gift of Frank Raysor
Light and Line: E. S. Lumsden's Visions of India, VMFA South Asian Galleries, April 11, 2016 - April 4, 2017
©artist or artist’s estate
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